After a dismal 2012, VCs plowed 300% more funding into 3D printing companies in the last 12 months. Crowdfunding a la Kickstarter has also has become a popular source of funding for 3D printing startups.
Despite the buzz around 3D Printing, VCs sat on the sidelines through most of 2012. MakerBot’s acquisition by Stratasys (deal value of $403M which could climb to $603 million with performance earnouts) was one of the highlights in 2013 which also saw VCs come around to 3D printing. Funding growth YoY stood at 319% and deals also grew by nearly 88% in the same 12 month period.
Autodesk is no longer focusing exclusively on software for designing real places and things — it’s jumping into hardware business.
Chief executive Carl Bass announced Autodesk’s plans to build its first 3D printer, along with a new Spark platform for connecting hardware and software, in a blog post today. Designed with businesses in mind, the device will cost several thousand dollars when it becomes available in the second half of this year, according to the post.
The medical technology (medtech) industry has been a leader in the use of additive manufacturing (AM), also known as “3D printing.” In 2012, medical applications accounted for 16.4 percent of the total system-related revenue for the AM market.1
In medical examiners’ offices around the United States alone, some 25,000 unidentified human skulls, many of homicide victims, await identification. That process can be greatly aided by generating a 3-D reconstruction of what the person’s face may have looked like.
Now the price of one key technology that allows this, and has many other applications besides, is dropping fast. The technology is called a haptic stylus—a gadget connected to mechanical apparatus that gives force-feedback sensations to let artists “feel” what they’re doing as they sculpt a 3-D image on the screen, such as from a CT scan of a skull.
If you’re an avid NoCamels reader, you’ll know there are few things we love as much as 3D printing. From 3D-printed cars to 3D-printed shoes and art, we believe this technology will change the world.
Guns may grab the headlines, but 3D printing has other uses other than producing weapons. One growth area for the technology is digital dentistry, where dentists use 3D printers to produce models, dentures, braces, and implants, while foregoing the gooey pastes and gels that are traditionally used to make them.
One of the earliest adopters of digital dentistry was 3D printing giant Stratasys, which in 2012 merged with Israel’s Objet 3D, another major manufacturer of 3D printers. Both companies had already developed printers geared to the dental market, and after the merger, Stratasys headquartered its digital dentistry division in Israel.
SyncFab wants to streamline product design and bring manufacturing back to the U.S. via 3D printing technology. And the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company has launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to raise money for its specialty manufacturing business.
In the latest test of 3D printing in orthopedic surgery, neurosurgeons in The Netherlands announced that they successfully implanted a 3D printer skull to treat a 22-year old woman suffering from a bone disorder.
3D printing is reshaping some of the foundations of today’s society and economy. A report by Netopia shows the opportunities are monumental, but so are the legal and regulatory challenges on product safety, consumer protection or even international trade tariffs and value added taxes, writes Per Strömbäck.
Per Strömbäck is the editor of the online magazine and ideas forum on the digital sphere, Netopia.
